Record number of new downtown apartments opening in 2015

Renters will have a bonanza of new apartment offerings to choose among in downtown Chicago next year.

We define downtown Chicago as the area bordered by the Stevenson Expressway on the south, North Ave (1600 N) on the north, Lake Michigan on the east and Ashland Ave (1600 W) on the west.

The downtown market added 2,882 apartments in larger projects in 2013 and another 2,104 this year. All of those units have not yet been rented, although occupancy levels are high at buildings that have been open a while. Next year, 2015, 3,838 new apartments, a record number, will begin leasing downtown.

You can see how difficult it can be to predict how the downtown apartment market will develop by comparing some of the expert predictions from just over a year ago with the market update in Crain’s from May of this year.

We expect the following 14 buildings, all of which are under construction, to begin deliveries in 2015: